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EXPERT OPINION DECEMBER 9, 2019 ¦ 43

According to the Times, Boies and Pottinger’s
goal was to use the videos as leverage to pressure
the men to settle with the victims, with some of
the money going into a charitable foundation. The
article says that in a separate chat with Kessler, Pot-
tinger was more explicit about his intentions: “He
described hypothetical plans in which the lawyers
would pocket up to 40 percent of the settlements
and could extract money from wealthy men by
flipping from representing victims to representing
their alleged abusers.”
Needless to say, this is unsavory stuff, ripe for
condemnation. Indeed, the Times makes the trope
of the sleazy lawyer its central theme, what it calls,
“the extraordinary, at times deceitful measures elite
lawyers deployed in an effort to get evidence that
could be used to win lucrative settlements—and himself in this venture with Pottinger, who comes
keep misconduct hidden, allowing perpetrators to off as a cowboy. (Besides describing his plans to
abuse again.” make oodles of money from settlements, the piece
Very sanctimonious, but I’m not sure where that says Pottinger also texted Kessler that billionaire
takes us. First of all, litigation often ends in settle- Sheldon Adelson, a supporter Benjamin Netan-
ments where the terms are confidential, resulting yahu, would be willing to pay for compromising
in keeping alleged misconduct under wraps. So photos of Barak, Netanyahu’s rival.)
why the shock and outrage? So, why was Boies so willing to place bets on
In any case, my interest isn’t the ethics issue (for Kessler, who popped out of nowhere? And why
that discussion, read my colleague Jack Newsh- would he partner with Pottinger, someone who
am’s post). What I’m interested in is how/why the seems to have piggybacked on Boies’ prestige?
redoubtable Boies keeps getting tripped up, and Boies describes it this way: “I only had two
what that says about his judgment. meetings with [Kessler] because there was noth-
In the last two years or so, Boies has found him- ing to do until he came forward with the evidence.
self in some very notable pickles—namely, his We didn’t contact others about him or approach
involvement in the Harvey Weinstein #MeToo the men he said he had evidence about.”
episode and his apparent attempts to stymie the But what clearly irks Boies is the way the Times
movie mogul’s accusers—as described in vivid wrote the story, suggesting that he and Pottinger
detail in two best sellers, She Said and Catch and acted more or less in unison. “They conflated what
Kill. Then, there were stories of the ugly tactics he another lawyer did and said with what I did and
and his firm deployed in thwarting whistleblow- said,” adding that it would take a “careful reader”
ers in the Theranos scandal involving Elizabeth to discern “that I had no participation in the text
Holmes—as explained in another bestseller Bad messages going back and forth [between Pottinger
Blood. and Kessler].”
In this latest tangle, according to the Times, In fact, Boies Schiller Flexner issued a statement
Boies got hoodwinked by a fraudster without to that effect. One paragraph in the statement
a portfolio. What’s more, it says Boies aligned
¦ Continued on PAGE 44

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